DUBUQUE, Iowa — Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to reinstate and expand the travel ban that he implemented against several majority-Muslim countries as part of his plan to strengthen the nation’s borders and immigration system.
Mr. Trump said the nation has gone from having the “most secure border in U.S. history” on his watch to having “millions and millions” of illegal immigrants pouring into the nation under President Biden’s “sick” policies.
“This is an invasion and I am the one candidate from Day 1 who knows exactly how to stop it,” Mr. Trump said during his second campaign stop Wednesday in eastern Iowa. “What is happening to us is not sustainable.”
“A vote for President Trump means Joe Biden’s horror show on the southern border ends at noon on inauguration day,” he said, eliciting applause from the thousands who turned out to see him.
Mr. Trump said if he is granted a second four-year term, he will “terminate every open-borders policy of the Biden administration.”
He said he would lead the largest deportation project in the nation’s history and would rely on federal law to boot illegal immigrant gang members from the nation.
He also vowed to relocate members of the U.S. military stationed overseas to the southern border, and rely on federal law to stop “communists and Marxists” from entering the country.
Mr. Trump is polling far ahead of the rest of the GOP presidential field, despite facing more than 90 felony charges in four criminal indictments.
The 77-year-old has redefined the Republican Party and popularized the “America First” agenda that has focused on strengthening the nation’s borders, reworking trade deals that hurt workers, and warning against military adventurism overseas.
Mr. Biden, meanwhile, took office on a promise of a more lenient approach to immigration, both legal and illegal.
The changes have resulted in a catastrophic surge of migrants, shattering all previous records and overwhelming Homeland Security.
Mr. Trump said a good thing that has come out of the failures of the Biden administration is that they have shown his hard-nosed approach to immigration was correct.
“The time for talk is over,” Mr. Trump said. “We need action.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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